Extremely Dangerous - Behind the Scenes
(3)

(Click on the small pictures to see larger
versions)

The "narrow little road" is,
in fact, Canal Street, and on this day in particular it has been
blocked off at both ends to allow the cast and crew of Extremely
Dangerous to get on with the business of making a 4-part TV film
series.

Up at the top end a wrangler with a walkie-talkie
intercepts foot traffic and politely suggests passers-by use
an alternative route.

Down at the bottom end, a steady stream
of cars, trucks and buses competes with the occasional ambulance
and fire engine on a busy road crossing the canal. In between
lie a range of pubs and clubs - some open for business, others
closed to accommodate the film crew - and a building site, fully
functional, populated by bricklayers and welders who have the
best seats in the house.

Down on the road below, a crewman with
a radio liases with the film's production team. It's All Quiet
for a Take - and the construction workers pause and gather on
an open ledge to watch the action.

Behind and below us, on the Rochdale Canal,
a brightly-painted barge is making its way through one of the
tricky locks that characterises this stretch of the waterway,
its Dutch tourist-navigators oblivious to what's going on above
them.

The construction site
on the corner

Sean wired for sound

Somewhere in the distance, another ambulance
wails. It's all peripheral background noise, integral to the
reality of the scene being filmed. But to be certain the actors'
voices are picked up clearly, a fuzzy grey microphone hangs over
the little white table where Gebbert and Byrne have their conversation,
on the end of a long pole. And Sean's been wired for sound with
a mini-mike under his shirt.

The bricklayers and welders, sitting on
the open ledge two stories up, let out a cheer for "Sharpe".
On the ground, Sean acknowledges them with a broad grin.

In film-time, this scene will lead into another fight, this one
involving iron pipes and some amazing choreography. In real-time
- it's one o'clock in the afternoon, and the cast and crew are
breaking for lunch. It's back to the unit base and the double-decker
bus that has been laid on to feed the seventy souls who are on-set
today.

"Back at two?" I inquire, approaching
producer Malcolm Craddock, who is obviously pleased to be working
with Sean Bean again after producing all fourteen of the Sharpe
films.